Graham faces a fight to retain its £80m contract for the UK's Low Level Waste Repository, which stores radioactive waste near Drigg in Cumbria, after the organisation signalled its intention to procure a new contract for the site.

Proposals by Churchill Retirement Living for a four-storey apartment scheme in the centre of Penrith have been recommended for approval, despite claims by the town’s council that the scheme would be “overbearing”.

A wide-ranging discussion at the Cumbria Update covered growth sectors such as nuclear and advanced manufacturing, as well as the challenges posed by the county's topography, and large-scale masterplans being brought forward by local councils.

David Sykes, director of people and places at South Lakeland Council, joins a speaker line-up which already includes Carlisle City Council, Eden Council, Kingmoor Park, and many more at the second in the Place North West Development Series.